


Tea Leaves

by Bladestorm



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Attempted Sexual Assault, Child Eren Yeager, Child Mikasa Ackerman, Eren Is a Little Shit, F/M, Falling In Love, Female Reader, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Jealous Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Levi is Bad At Feelings (Shingeki no Kyojin), Levi is a Little Shit (Shingeki no Kyojin), Levi is an Asshole, Love Triangles, Modern AU, Modern Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Nonbinary Hange Zoë, Reader Is In College, Reader-Insert, Serious Slow Burn, Slow Burn, Tea, Teacher Hange Zoë, Teacher Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), The reader babysits Mikasa, This started out as lighthearted..., Unrequited Love, the reader and Levi are exes, zeke is a good brother
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:33:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29405577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bladestorm/pseuds/Bladestorm
Summary: Getting over your ex isn’t easy. You don’t know if you can go back to him after what had happened between the two of you.Eren notices what’s happened and tries to help in his own way, and he has the perfect person in mind to get you with.
Relationships: Hange Zoë & Reader, Levi & Hange Zoë, Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)/Reader, Levi Ackerman & Reader, Mikasa Ackerman & Armin Arlert & Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman & Eren Yeager, Zeke Yeager & Reader, Zeke Yeager/Reader
Comments: 7
Kudos: 73





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was mostly me wanting to write a ton of fluff for a Zeke x reader fanfic— it turned into something rlly long so I hope you enjoy.  
> Please note I may or may not have a slow update schedule bc of school.

Rain could be heard splattering across the sidewalk and streets. Inside a building little kids are seen running out, hugging the people they ran off to.  
Cars are parked on the street, their window wipers on.

“We’ll see you next week, Mikasa!” A woman smiled down at a young girl.  
The dark-haired girl gave her a small nod and began running out into the rain.

“Mikasa!” A voice called out to her.  
Looking amongst the crowd of people she spotted you.

“_______! She rushed into your arms. “Hi..!” she said smiling at you sweetly

You smile back. “How was school?” You ask her placing a hand on her hand to guide her under the umbrella so she wouldn’t get too wet.

She smiles at you. “It was good!” She tilts her head to the side. “Why are you picking me up today?” She asks you curiously.

“Your mom couldn’t watch over you today, so she left me to it.” You told her.  
You were Mikasa’s babysitter, you often watched over her whenever her parents were away. They were away often which made you more present in the young girl’s life. Mikasa didn’t mind, she enjoyed her time with you.

You held the umbrella over her. “Alright, let’s get back home, okay?” You tried to pull her away but she wouldn’t budge.  
“What’s wrong?” 

“Can we wait for Eren?” She pleaded looking back at the school door.  
You sighed. She always tried waiting for him, no matter what time of day she would always wait for Eren.  
You knew why of course, she liked him. She had told you herself. But she also wanted you to keep it a secret so you obliged.

You frown, you always caved in with this type of stuff. “Alright... but we need to leave in five minutes.”  
She nods smiling again at you. You loved it when she was happy. 

The two of you had been waiting for about a minute when a young boy was caught running over. “_______! Mikasa!” He shouted over to you two.

He stopped right in front of you, his backpack slung over his shoulders.  
“Eren...” Mikasa looked down, her cheeks were red. Her mood shifted fast which you found funny.

“Are you watching Mikasa today?” The boy asked you looking up.

You nodded. “I am.” You placed a hand on Mikasa’s head, trying to get her to look up at him.

“Can me and Mikasa hang out today?” He asked you with a pleading expression.  
Mikasa perked up at this. She looks at you as well giving you a begging face.

You furrowed your brow. “It depends on who’s picking you up.” You’d babysat Eren a few times. His mother was a bit... overprotective of him, she didn’t let him go anywhere without her. Each time you would get caught up in a dreadful conversation about your work studies with her. She was nice but the conversations were a bit of a bore, and you didn’t wanna talk about that type of stuff out of college. 

“Oh!” Realization struck Eren. “It’s not my parents!” He promised.

You lean down to look at him. “Then who’s picking you?” 

“My older brother is.” He replies to you.

Ah... you remembered him mentioning his brother a few times. Supposedly he’s way older than Eren. “Have I met him before?” You ask the boy, leaning down a bit more while speaking to him.

He thinks for a moment and then shakes his head quickly. “I don’t think so.” 

You glance around. “You should go to him then, he’s probably looking for you.” 

“Will you come with me?” Eren asks you, patiently waiting in the rain. 

“Sure, just— get under the umbrella.” You gesture and make room for him to step under.

He walks next to Mikasa and stops for a moment and runs off unexpectedly. You watch as he goes into the crowd, wondering if you should’ve gone with him.

Suddenly he’s back, grinning at you. He’s tugging a stranger’s hand, leading them over.  
“See! Mikasa is with her babysitter today!” He points out to you. 

“I see that...” the man mutters glancing over at you.

“So can Mikasa come over today—“

“I don’t think so... your mom doesn’t like me bringing people into the house.” He tells the boy. He’s cautious, looking as if he wants to leave.

“He can come over instead.” You interrupt. “Mikasa’s mother is fine with it.” You look down at the girl and she nods eagerly.  
You want the two kids to spend time together, and Friday was the perfect day for it.

Eren smiles at you brightly, you flash him a small smile back.

“I’m not too sure...” Eren’s brother murmurs scratching his beard. 

“Please,” Eren begs giving him an expression that’s too cute to refuse. 

“Fine.” He gives in. “Only for a little while though.” 

“Thank you!” Eren says smiling at him, he goes up to Mikasa and offers her his umbrella. She walks under it, a tiny blush spreading across her cheeks. The two of them begin racing ahead in the direction of Mikasa’s street, which is only a few blocks away.

You’re not too keen on catching up to them, so you just begin to follow where they’re heading. You see them stop at a crosswalk, they look back, and gesture for you to hurry up. 

“They’re excited for this, huh?” You can hear the man next to you mutter under his breath.

“They’re kids, they should be socializing as much as they can.” You give your unwanted reply to his comment.

He looks at you, going quiet and then replying with, “I get that, but it’s a pain in the ass to organize this stuff.” he grumbles.

You decided to change the conversation seeing as this won’t lead to anything good. “My name is ________.” you smile at him warmly, introducing yourself.

“Zeke,” he replies with his name. He doesn’t offer a smile back, instead, he’s focused on the kids in front of him.

You both finally catch up to Mikasa and Eren.

“Why are you so slow?” Eren whines. “You’d think the adults would be faster...” he mutters.

Mikasa doesn’t say anything, instead, she burrows herself in her scarf, inhaling deeply.

“We’re not as energetic as you, Eren.” You chuckle lightly. 

Mikasa reaches for your hand, wanting to hold onto you while crossing the street. You hold her hand and she smiles up at you in response.

“What do wanna do when you get home, Mikasa?” You ask her as you both walk across the crosswalk.

“I wanna get Eren to draw with me.” She replies. 

You nod. “Sounds fun.” 

She looks up at you with a questioning expression. “What are you gonna do though?” 

“Huh? What do you mean?” You look back at her a bit confused about what she means.

“What are you gonna do when we get home?” She asks.

You pause for a moment, thinking. Once on the sidewalk, you reply, “I’ll probably get your dinner ready for later, I’m staying over tonight because your parents won’t be back till morning.”

“Oh...” she frowns, seeming a bit upset by that.

“They’ll be back by tomorrow—“

“No not that, I just... I don’t want you to be lonely.”

You’re awed by her concern. “It’ll be fine, I’ll have you.”

“But I’ll be playing with Eren.”

“I can join—“

“No.” She glares at you. “I don’t want you to.” 

Your mouth hangs open at her off response. You don’t know how to respond to that or why she said it but you’re just going to assume it has something to do with her crush on him.

“Do you want me to keep her company, Mikasa?” Zeke asks the young girl.

“Please.” Her face brightens up at the suggestion.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Eren giving his brother an odd look, the look itself almost makes you laugh. He notices you staring and quickly turns away, a bit flustered.

Arriving at the house you unlock the door and let the others inside.  
“Mikasa, show them where to put their stuff please?” You ask of her.

She nods and begins to lead the two away.

You shuffle off your shoes and put them by the doorway. Glancing around you notice few things have changed, the only thing different about the house are the photos on the wall.  
A picture of three children running along the beach, their backs facing the camera. Another of Mikasa and a little blonde boy digging through the sand looking for seashells. There’s one of her 5th birthday party which you were present at. In the photo, you stand a few feet away from Mikasa who’s standing next to her friends. You’re next to someone else, a shorter man with dark hair and an undercut.  
Your cheeks warm looking at the happy memory, it reminds you of someone.

“_______!” Mikasa calls out. 

You walk into the other room seeing Mikasa, her shoes now off. “Can me and Eren go upstairs?”

You nod. “Just clean up the mess you make.” 

She nods and tugs on Eren’s hand, leading the dark-haired boy away. She drags him up the stairs as he scowls at her.  
You watch as they go and then begin to go into the kitchen. 

You turn back to Zeke and smile at him. “Feel free to take a seat and stay longer if you’d like.” 

“Sure…” he sits in one of the chairs by the kitchen table. 

You turn on the kettle and begin to heat the water inside. “Would you like anything to drink? Coffee? Tea?”

“Tea is fine.” He replies.

You nod, pouring the hot water into two mugs. You place them down and along with a teabag for each of you, containing gray tea leaves in the see-through pouch.  
You take a seat and put the teabag inside your water, Zeke does the same.

Silence.

You both sit there awkwardly, waiting for the tea to cool so you’re able to drink it. You’re not the best conversation starter so these types of situations with strangers get a little uncomfortable. 

“So uhm… are you in college?” You try and start something up, hoping to spark a conversation. 

“I’ve graduated,” He replies. “I’m going to assume you haven’t?”

You fidget with your hands under the table. “Uhm yeah, I’m a senior. I major in finance.” 

“Finance…” he murmured while taking a sip of his tea. “Seems hard.”

You shrugged your shoulders. “Not really, I just have to do the math right and it’ll add up.”

He nods and then mutters, “I’m not good with math,” he continues to ask, “Why are you doing babysitting then?”

You perk up at his question. “What do you mean?”

“If you’re going into finance then why are you babysitting?” he repeats his question. He looks up at you now. His eyes meet yours, you’ve just realized how pretty they are.

“Uhm well…” you almost stutter in your reply, “I guess I like to watch over kids? They’re adorable, I’d want my own when I’m older.”

He takes a sip of his tea and then responds, “I’m not too fond of them, Eren is the only exception to that though.” 

You laugh lightly. You understand that everyone has their likes and dislikes so you’re in no position to judge. 

Continuing on the conversation a question comes to mind. “Are you living with your parents still?” you ask him.

“Hmm? Elaborate please.”

“You mentioned before that you’ve graduated but you’re still taking care of Eren, why is that?”

“Until I find a stable job then yes, I am living with them. The only cost is that I have to watch Eren from time to time, which isn’t enjoyable, to say the least,” he grumbles.

“He’s quite energetic isn’t he…” you mumble. Eren by far had the most energy out of any of the kids you’ve met before. It wasn’t a bad thing but it wasn’t a good thing either. 

You can feel something vibrating under your hand. You look down to see your phone ringing. You glance over at the screen to see who’s calling. ‘Levi’ it reads. You furrow your brow and pick up. “Hello?”

“__________, I’m coming over to the house right now.”

“Levi, you can’t just--” the phone hangs up. “What the fuck.” you curse out loud. You look back up at Zeke, “Sorry about that…”

He shrugs. “It’s fine…?”

You shake your head. “No, what I mean is…” you trail off. 

“What?”

“Mikasa’s cousin is coming over right now.”

“Oh.” He thinks for a moment as if questioning if that’s a good or a bad thing. He speaks again, “I don't see why that’s a problem.”

“Ah well… you’ll find out.” you sit up and throw your used tea bag into the trash.  
You hadn’t expected Levi to call you about coming over… you were in no place to deny him though. After all, Mikasa was his relative. It’s the fact that it came up randomly that shocked you. 

You weren’t on the greatest terms with him. Yes, you two were indeed friends but you hadn’t seen him after the ‘incident’, an event you didn’t like to talk about. Was Levi the best with strangers? No. He wasn’t.

You sigh and sit back on your chair, your shoulders slumped.

“I’m assuming you don’t like them.” Zeke raises an eyebrow at you.

You shake your head. “That’s not it. I do like him but we’re not on the best terms, and he doesn’t do well with… strangers.”

“I see.”

You think for a moment, your weight shifting uncomfortably. You hear the doorbell ring. The pit in your stomach aches. You dread going to go get the door. Hesitantly you get up and walk towards the hallway, down to the door.  
Zeke just watches you, saying nothing.

You unlock the door and pull it open.

A shorter man stands in front of you. His dark hair is parted in the middle, with a serious expression on his face. “________, where’s Mikasa?” 

“She’s upstairs.”

“Good. I’m coming in.”

You were about to protest before the short man pushed his way through into the house. You sigh and shut the door behind him.

“Why are you here, Levi?”

He turns back to you, his dark narrow eyes staring back at you. “I need to talk to you about--”

“Before you mention that, we shouldn’t talk about it here.”

His eyes narrow. “Why not?”

“There’s someone else here, and I want to keep the situation private,” you state bluntly, crossing your arms over your chest.

Levi doesn’t say anything and marches forward into the kitchen, without bothering to take his shoes off. You sigh and follow him. 

You hadn’t expected to have this conversation so soon. You didn’t necessarily want to have it either. The topic you had been dreading for months had finally reoccurred along with Levi.

Levi turns, walking into the kitchen. “Who’s--” he takes a halt. 

You walk in to see both Levi and Zeke staring at each other. “...” you don’t comment on it, walking around the two. “Would you like something to drink, Levi?” you ask, trying to be as polite as possible. You’d rather not start something this early.

Levi turns to you with a glaring look, “What’s he doing here?”

“Oh well… Eren came over today so his brother decided to stay for some tea--” he cuts you off.

“How long have you two known each other for?”

“We just met today.”

“Why are you here, Levi? It’s not to visit your cousin, that’s for sure.” the blonde eyes him suspiciously. 

Levi turns to the man speaking and glares at him, “I’ll have you know--”

It’s your turn to cut him off. You cut in front of him, you’re taller than him so he’s forced to look up at you. “Stop being such a dick.” you hiss. “If you’re only here to cause trouble then feel free to leave.” 

You’re able to tell he’s taken aback by what you said, not having been spoken to like that before.  
“If you’re here to talk about ‘the incident’ then wait until Eren goes home.” you narrow your eyes at him and then walk off to the counter to prepare some tea.

He doesn’t say anything, he just takes a seat at the table.

You place a mug on the table and take a seat. No one says a word, you all just awkwardly stare at each other. 

You can hear Mikasa and Eren upstairs, you’re tempted to go up and get them but you stay in place. 

“________!” You hear a voice call out.  
Coming down the stairs is Mikasa with Eren just behind her. She stops upon seeing who’s in the kitchen.

Eren’s eyes light up. “What’s Mr.Levi doing here?” 

“I’m not sure, ask him.” You give Levi a hard stare.

He tsks and then replies. “I came to talk to _______ privately.” 

Eren looks in between you two, you know he can tell something off by the atmosphere in the room.  
“Alright, can we go home now?” Eren finally asks.

Mikasa looks at him, a bit surprised. “Eren…” 

“Yeah sure, just get your shoes on and say thank you.” Zeke waves off. 

Eren nods and heads in the direction of where his stuff is placed. Mikasa follows him, calling his name and trying to get his attention.

Zeke turns to you and smiles lightly. “Thank you for having him over.” 

You feel your cheeks warm up a bit, “It’s no problem…” 

Levi looks at you both and narrows his eyes but says nothing.

Shortly after Eren comes back carrying his book bag. “Ok I’m ready to go,” He says, then looking up at you he smiles brightly, “thank you for having me over, _______.”

You only frown a bit. “Go say that to Mikasa.” You remind him gently. This wasn’t your house after all. 

“Oh!” He exclaims. He looks at Mikasa, “thanks, Mikasa.” He flashes her a quick smile.

She blushes and nods, “No problem, Eren…”

“Alright let me escort you to the door…” you say to the little boy.  
He nods and follows along.

While walking down the hallway he stops to ask you a question. “Will I be able to visit Mikasa again?”

You look back at him and nod. “Of course you’re allowed to!”

He shuffles his feet nervously. “How often do you babysit her?”

“Usually almost every week.”

“Okay.” 

You raise an eyebrow. “Is that all?”

“Yep!”

“Alright then.”

At the door, Eren waves goodbye to you and thanks to you once more. While having one last conversation with you, you can see his brother standing next to him a bit nervously, his eyes darting between you and the little boy. You don’t comment and finally, wave him off. “Bye!” He waves at you walking away from the house. You simply wave back and finally shut the door. 

You turn back to head towards the kitchen where you know Mikasa will be waiting for you. You supposed you’ll just turn on a movie for her to watch and wait until she heads to bed, but then you remember—

“So are we going to talk or what?” Levi asks once you return to the kitchen.

You internally groan, you’d forgotten about him. “Yea sure gimme a sec,” you see Mikasa and lean down to her, “Mikasa, I need to talk to Levi for a bit. Can you go watch a movie or something while we speak? It’s a private conversation.”

The young girl nods and then runs off to the basement. You watch as she goes, shutting the door behind her. 

“Okay so about this—“ you begin to speak.

Levi cuts you off. “Let’s just get straight to the point.”

You gulp, feeling your hands clench.

“Why didn’t you accept it?”

“Accept what?” You question.

“When I proposed to you!” He exclaims.  
You can see his face getting red. 

“I wasn’t ready.” You brush it off.

“So then you broke up with me and ignored me for months?”

You bite your lip. That was true, you had ignored him for a while. Breaking up with him was the only option you had seen to get out of the mess you were in.

He continues, “you never explained why.” He glared at you. You could tell he was upset about this.

“Levi, you pressured me into a lot of things that I didn’t want to do. I felt uncomfortable in the relationship we had. Breaking up with you was the only way out.”

“Did you think about how I felt?”

You’re caught off guard by this, “what?”

“About how I felt when you broke up with me. Do my feelings not matter in the situation?” He hisses at you. He keeps a serious expression the whole time while being equally angry. 

“Of course I did!” You tell him. “But I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready to get married, I’m not even out of college yet!” You try to explain your reasoning.

You can tell you’re being selfish. He had planned out everything, from the ring to what color the cake would be. It had all been too much for you to take in.  
You knew Levi hadn’t had the best life and was trying to make up for that. From what you could tell he had let himself warm up to you, and catch feelings for you. You had thrown it all away. He was already such a cold person. You wondered if you had made the right choice to break up with him.

Levi glares at you, it’s obvious he’s upset and has every right to be. He takes a deep breath and sighs. “Please…” his tone is softer now, “it’s been months since then,” he takes a step closer to you, grabbing your hand, “Consider being with me again…” he murmurs just loud enough for you to hear. 

“Levi—“ you’re cut off by him letting go of you. 

He walks to the door and looks back at you. “I’ll see myself out. I’ll give you time to think this time.”

You watch as he goes, not taking your eyes off of him for a second. You see him close the front door behind and you drop to your knees. 

You feel hot tears running down your cheeks. Your heartbeat has gotten quicker. Pain, all you feel is pain.  
As much as your heart reaches out to him you just can’t bring yourself to accept it. You feel like you still love him, or the image of him that’s ingrained in your head. You ache to be held. 

“_________…” 

You turn to see Mikasa staring at you. Her face is a bit pale. 

She walks towards you and puts her tiny arms around you, trying to embrace you. You hug her back, pulling her in close. She leans her head against yours, “Why is he being so mean?” She questions.

“I don’t know…” you mumble to her.

”He made you cry.” She says in disbelief.

You sniff but try to keep a steady voice, “Yea…”

“I’ll kill him.”

Your eyes widen a bit and you look at her, her face is serious and she looks angry. This causes you to laugh. “Oh Mikasa… you’re too cute.”

She frowns, “I’m being serious.”

You sigh, wiping your tears away. “I know you are…”

“You should date someone else.” She suggests, trying to lift your spirits. 

You smile at her softly, placing a hand on her, slowly stroking her soft hair. “Oh, yea? And who do you suggest?”

She thinks for a moment and then an idea seems to come to her brain. “You should date Eren’s brother!”

“The guy I just met today?” You refer to the blonde.

“Yea!”

“Mikasa, I barely know him,” You explain to her, “I knew Levi for a few months before we got together.”

“But you still should.” She says seriously. 

You chuckle lightly, “And why is that?” You question smiling at her.

“Because.”

“Because…?”

“Because… I said so.”

“I’m gonna guess you’re only saying so because he’s close to my age?”

She nods, “yea and Eren said—“ she stops herself and goes quiet.

Now you’re curious. “What did Eren say?”

“Nothing.”

You roll your eyes playfully. “Alright then, do you wanna help me make dinner?”

She nods quickly. “Yes.”

“Alright let’s go then.” You stand up and dust yourself off.

You catch Mikasa with a frowning expression on her face. You smile, hoping to cheer her up, “Things will get better, I promise.”

“Will I be invited to your wedding?”

You nod at her. “Of course you will.”

“Will you get married?”

“Yes, I will.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You take Mikasa to the park for a bit and see a familiar face.

The young girl runs in front of you, trying to catch up to the blonde running ahead of her. 

You watch as the two race to the slides in front. Them stopping as they see you finally coming up. “Don’t leave the park.” You remind them.

The two of them nod and run off into the playground with the other children. You can see three children by the slides pushing each other off of it, two girls holding hands at the swings, and three other children hanging around the seesaw with the third sitting in the middle of it. You recognize almost all of them from Mikasa’s class but no sign of Eren. It’s why Mikasa had come here, Eren had told her so.   
You frown and sit on the bench waiting and watching. You check your phone, checking your Twitter page for any new notifications. You didn’t go on it often, but people still followed you despite your inactivity. Some of your followings were posted, but it was nothing new.   
You shove your phone back in your pocket and look up again. You see Mikasa and Armin playing with the three other kids on the slides. You see Jean, a boy in Mikasa’s class, try to approach her. He says something but she mostly ignores it, her eyes are somewhere else. You look to see what she’s checking out and you realize it’s Eren on the field.  
You see Eren standing on the grass a baseball mitt in hand. He looks uneasy as if he doesn’t know what to do with it.  
A ball comes hurtling towards him, he’s late to realize and fumble it, dropping it onto the ground. It’s better than hitting him.   
Eren looked up and noticed you staring. You wave at him as he immediately drops the mitt and begins running over to you as if trying to escape whatever situation he was in.

“________!” 

“Eren,” you smile at him. “Long time no see. How are you?” You ask in a friendly tone. 

He frowns, “I thought I’d get to play with my friends but my brother forced me to play baseball instead.” He makes a face at baseball as if disgusted by the mere suggestion of it.

“Is it fun?”

He shakes his head, “No, I hate it.” He frowns.

“Ah well, not everyone likes sports.”

He shakes his head quickly, “no I like sports, just not baseball.”

“You do you.”

Eren turns, seeing his brother approaching him. “Eren.” He walks towards the boy. “Why did you drop your mitt?” He asks sternly.

“I don’t want to play.” He pouts. “It’s not fun.”

“You can’t just go running off like that.” He grabs Eren’s arm and starts to drag him away. “We need to practice.”

Eren looks at you pleadingly, as if asking ‘get me out of this.’ 

“Eren, Mikasa over there if you wanna go play with her.” You tell him. You gesture to the left where all the other kids are gathered. 

Eren gives his brother a look which causes his grip to loosen and Eren breaks free and runs off.

You stare at Zeke, also giving him a look. 

He frowns and takes a seat next to you on the bench.

“I don’t understand…” he mutters under his breath. 

You glance at him, “what do you mean…?”

“He doesn’t like to play it…”

“We all have different interests.” 

He shakes his head, “I know but—“

“Eren is entitled to like and dislike whatever.” You shrug. “Can’t force him to do something he doesn’t want to, he simply won’t do it.”

You knew that Eren was stubborn, if he didn’t like something then he’d make it clear. 

“Yes but I need something to bond over with him,” Zeke mutters as he watches the boy play with his friends. 

“Did you used to play baseball?” You ask curiously.

He nods, “When I was younger. I used to play all the time.” 

“Were you on a team?”

“Yes, it would take up most of my free time. I’ll try to get Eren to play from time to time but he usually refuses and throws the mitt into the dirt.”

You chuckle at the part about Eren. “He’s stubborn.” You acknowledge.

“Very,” Zeke mutters narrowing his eyes. “He has some issues we have to work on.”

“Good luck with that.” You say almost sarcastically.  
You can see the little boy running and playing with his friends, the sight was cute to look at. Mikasa follows him closely behind, along with her other friends. You find it sweet how loyal she is.   
You feel your phone vibrating, you check and see that Levi has called you. You simply turn your phone on ‘do not disturb’ and shove it back in your pocket. 

“When do you graduate?” a voice asks.

You look up a bit surprised. “Huh?”

“You’re graduating soon, aren’t you?” Zeke questioned, you see that he’s looking at you now.

You feel your cheeks warm up under his gaze, “Yes, I am.” you reply. “I’m graduating in May.”

“So next year?”

You nod in response. 

“What are you gonna do afterward?” 

You’re caught off guard by this question. “What do you mean?” you ask curiously. 

He gestures to the kids on the playground, “Will you still watch them?”

“I’m not sure…” you trail off a bit. “As much as I’d like to I’d need to start considering a real job.”

He nods and then looks back at where the kids are gathered. You can see them all talking now-- or well… it kinda looked like they were arguing.   
You frown but decide not to go over there, you’d rather let them sort it out and not get involved.

“Christa, I’ll beat up these jerks for you!” a young brown hair girl growls pushing back her sleeves.

A young blonde girl waves her hand in front of her face, “No! It’s fine!” she shakes her head quickly. “Connie and Jean didn’t mean it.”

The brown-haired girl glares at the two boys. “You better apologize right now.”

Two boys, Jean and Connie look at each other and then look back at Christa. “We’re sorry, Christa!” they exclaim. “We didn’t mean to get you dirty!”

Christa just smiles at them kindly, “It’s fine, I know you guys didn’t mean it.”

Both boys blush. The brown-haired girl frowns and pushes them away and marches off with the blonde in hand. 

Eren and Mikasa watch the two go. Eren frowns, “I wish Christa would smile at me like that…” he mutters under his breath.

Mikasa looks at him, her face a bit angered. “Too bad.” she yanks him by the hair and also pulls him away.

“Mikasa!” Eren whines, annoyed. “What’d I do?!”

Mikasa throws him to the ground. Eren gets up and brushes himself off. He glances around, “Where’s Armin?”

“He’s over there,” Mikasa replies and points over to a large tree where low and behold was Armin sitting under it. 

The two of them head off to where the other boy was, not paying any attention to the two adults watching them.

“I hate him but love him…” 

“Mikasa is usually a well-behaved kid so I can’t get mad at her.” You say.

“Eren gets into all sorts of trouble…” Zeke chuckles lightly watching the three kids speaking to each other.  
“So I usually get mad at him a lot…”

You frown, “I don’t think he’s that bad…”

“No, he can be. Just not always.”

“So he’s mostly well behaved?”

“Mostly.” The man replies, “but he’s a kid so what can you expect.”

You laugh a bit, you can feel your cheeks warming up. The two of you have been talking for more than an hour by now. The conversation went smoothly and you enjoyed it, you enjoyed it a lot. The two of you sat close to each other, but that was expected with how short the bench was. Sure you could’ve moved to the other bench but you were too comfortable sitting here. If someone were to walk by they’d most likely think the two of you were a couple, but that was not the case. You were merely acquaintances who had only met a few weeks ago, not even friends at this point.   
Part of you is tempted to ask for his number but you’re afraid it’ll come off wrong, you’d rather wait it out until you were fully sure he’d say yes. 

“Do you do anything in your free time?” He asks.

“Usually,” You tell him. “When I’m not babysitting I might go out to drink with friends, or catch up on my studies.” You say simply. You weren’t that interesting of a person, your life was simple enough as it was difficult. 

“I see…” he mutters. “I was expecting something different, to be honest.”

You look at him, a bit confused. “What do you mean?” 

He shrugs, “I don’t know, I just thought you weren’t the type to drink.”

You snort, “drinking is what keeps me sane.” 

“I can relate.” 

You feel your phone vibrate again, you could’ve sworn you turned it on ‘do not disturb’. You look at it and see that Levi has left 20 missed calls. You narrow your eyes, there was seriously something wrong with him.

Zeke glances down at your phone as well, curious to see what has gotten you upset. “Oh, him again.” He looks at the phone in distaste. “He has some serious issues if he’s leaving you that many calls.”

You snort, “this happens every day, I’m tempted to block him.”

“Do it.”

“Huh?” You’re caught off guard. “What do you mean?”

“Do it.” He repeats. “Block him.”

“But I—“

He rolls his eyes, “you don’t have to keep him blocked but just do it when he spam calls you, to get the message across that you don’t want to fucking talk to him. It’s nothing important if he does this every day, I think it’s the best if you just do it.”

Your thumb is hovering over the home button, you press it. Scrolling through it you find Levi’s contact. You hesitate for a moment and then hit the block button, you’ve done it. 

“That’s a step closer.”

You give Zeke a confused look, unsure about what he’s trying to say.

“A step closer to getting him out of your life, at least… getting him to leave you alone for now.” 

“I suppose.” You shrug, you still feel uneasy about this. You feel like Levi is going to get pissed at you(granted he will)

“If he comes at you for it then just say he was annoying, that midget will get the hint eventually.”

You chuckle lightly. “We can only hope.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, updates may be faster or slower depending on how I feel BC my partner just broke up with me last night and I’m feeling like shit— so uh enjoy ig. I may or may not use these end notes to fucking vent BC of messed up mental health.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You go out to drink with a friend.
> 
> TW; sexual assault(?) it’s very light so just be warned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for late update.

“Excuse me, sir!” A voice calls over.

across the bar a man walks over, he stops in front of a person with brown hair tied in a high ponytail and tanned skin with tan lines on where their glasses would be.  
“Yes?”

“Can we get something hard? Like really strong? Doesn’t matter what.”

He nods, “of course.” He heads back down the bar and begins mixing drinks.

“Hange,” you groan out. “I can’t take much more.” You burp and then cover your mouth quickly.

They let out a laugh, “you said you were going all out tonight so that’s what we’re doing!” They grin at you. Excitement is practically coming off of them.

You narrow your eyes, “didn’t Nabana say she was gonna pick us up tonight?” You mumble, trying to cover up your face. 

Hange nods while looking down at the bar, they’re examining the bartender. “Uh Huh… she said she would after getting something to drink, which gives us more time to drink as well!”

You bury your head in your arms, “I don’t know how much I can take…” your stomach is aching… Hange had invited you to the bar for drinks and you had agreed thinking that it was only going to be a few. They had heard you wanted to get wasted and well…

“Oh! You’re going to love this one!” They announce seeing the drink slide over. “Look! It’s pink!” 

You sigh as you take it from them, taking a sip. Oh lord. You feel like you might barf.

You had known Hange for quite some time now, they worked as a science teacher at Mikasa’s school. They hadn’t been there for a while but all the students loved them, probably the most energetic teacher they had.

Hange smiles at you, “Just a few more and then we can go.”

People are starting to disperse but the music still blares loud in your ears.   
You see a group of people coming your way but you can’t necessarily make out their faces too well, your eyes are foggy. “Hange,” you call out to them, “who’s coming over?” You question.

“Oh!” They exclaim. “It’s Nabana and Miche and—“ they’re cut off by a loud screech in the music.

You cover your ears at the loud noise. Someone apologizes and quickly heads over to fix it. You slump back down on the table, grumbling to yourself.

You watch as people dance in front of you, barfing and making out all over each other. It reminds you of when you were in high school, stupid, idiotic…

“Hange, how much has ________ had to drink?” You can hear a female voice speaking, it must be Nabana. She sounds concerned at the sight in front of her. “You shouldn’t push her.” You feel a warm hand on your shoulder. 

“I’m not!” Hange waves their hands in defense.

“She’s younger than us, Hange.” A masculine voice speaks over.

You check to see who it is. You assume it must be Miche, Nabana’s boyfriend, and a friend of Hange’s. You know him pretty well so the two of you are on good terms. 

“... back away from her.” A third speaks. 

Nabana begrudgingly steps back and takes a seat next to Hange with Miche following her closely behind.

The third person sits next to you, your eyes meet with theirs. “Levi…” you almost cough up his name. “Why the fuck are you here?” You question. 

“I thought I’d come to see you, you still haven’t unblocked me yet.”

You roll your eyes at the darker haired male, he’s an ass. 

He frowns at this but says nothing, just watching as you try to cover up your ears to block any sound from reaching you.  
You’re able to hear Hange and Nabana talking amongst themselves. You sigh giving up. Your headache is getting worse. The side effects of being drunk are finally starting to show. You feel incredibly queasy and light-headed.

Your ears ring because of the loud noise. You’re feeling debauched and out of it.   
“_________, do you need to go home?” you hear a soft voice whisper in your ear. “I can drive you home…”  
You look up to see Nabana looking over you, she has a hand on your shoulder.   
“Sure,” you reply, your mouth is dry. You begin to stand up, feeling extremely dizzy. Every part of your body aches. 

“But you just got here!” Hange complains to Nabana. 

“Maybe I’ll stop by next time.” 

“I can walk home.” you quickly interject. “I’ll take the bus--”

“No!” Hange quickly waves their hands. “I’ll drive you home--”

“But I said--”

The person stands up and quickly ushers their friend back into her seat. “No, you just got here so I’ll--”

“I’ll drive ________ home.” 

You look up to see who spoke and you immediately felt like you were gonna hurl. Levi stood up from his seat, he glanced down at you and then looked back up Hange. “I have a car,” he tells them.

“Erm… alright. We’ll see you then,” they say to him. 

Nabana nods, sitting back down. Miche just stares, not saying a word.

You feel a grip on your arm, squeezing it gently. Levi drags you up, making you stand. “Come on,” he says, pulling you away from the bar.

You scowl as Levi pulls your arm, “Stop!” you push him away. “Stop pulling me, I’m able to walk.” you keep your distance from him. 

Levi frowns at you. He walks forward a bit, only stopping a few feet away from you.   
“Have you thought about it?”

You narrow your eyes, “What?”

“What I asked you a while back.” 

You both stand in silence. You feel sick right now. 

“Will you come back to me?” he asks. 

“...” 

He sighs, “I know it’s not ideal but I can’t get my mind off of you.” his voice goes softer. “I miss you, _________.”

“I’m sorry but I can’t… I still need--”

“How much time do you need?!” he interrupts you. “I’ve been waiting months.” his eyes narrow, his expression has gone serious again.

Your stomach churns. “I--”

You see him walk forward. You walk back in response and feel your back hit the wall. ‘Shit.’ 

He stares at you, still frowning. He grips your face, forcing you to look him in the eyes. 

“Levi--”

He cuts you off by placing his hand over your mouth. You narrow your eyes, you're tempted to kick him.  
“What do I have to do to win you over? And don’t say ‘giving you time’ that’s not gonna work.” he takes his hand off your mouth and you just stand there, not saying a word to him.   
He frowns. “Money? Do you want money?”

“No.”

“Favors?”

You furrow your brow, “What are you talking about?”

He leans into, speaking in your ear sensually, “Sexual favors, if I wasn’t pleasing you enough romantically then I can please sexually. Is that what you want? Me to f--”

“No!” you try to squirm away from him but he traps you against the wall. You crouch down, trying to go under him to escape. He grips your shoulders, holding you in place. You try to push yourself up but his grip is stronger than yours, plus you’re dizzy as fuck so that won’t help.  
He leans down, you can feel his warm breath against your neck. You can feel his hands moving down your shoulders, going down to your waist, and resting on your hips. You shudder at the touch. 

“_________…” he whispers in your ear. 

“Levi…” you look up at him, his dark eyes meeting yours.  
You don’t know what to do. You feel trapped but at the same time, you can’t do anything. You can’t move or speak. 

You feel his hands moving again. They’re sliding onto your thighs, groping them softly.   
His hands feel so smooth against your skin, you hate it. 

“Please…” he begs. “Let me do this for you.”

“Get off me!” you hiss at him. “Levi, I don’t want this!”

His grip doesn’t loosen, it’s still as firm as ever.  
You both are standing outside the bar, with no one around to help you. You feel weak. You're intoxicated while being pushed up against the wall with no sign of help.   
He reaches a hand through your dress, touching at your chest, trying to slowly unclip your bra. His other hand slides up your thigh going straight for something else...

You grip one of his shoulders and dig your nails into it, causing him to yelp unexpectedly. Out of instinct, he hits you back in the face. Pain stings on your cheek, you touch your face, feeling where he hit you.

He realizes his mistake just as soon as you do. “_________, I’m sorry.” you’ve never heard him say that before. He looks distraught, he looks concerned. 

You can feel hot tears streaming down your face, you’re crying. You hadn’t expected him to go this far. You feel like you have just been kicked down. Your hands are shaking a bit, and you don’t know what to do. You needed someone, someone to tell you everything was going to be fine.

“What the fuck.” 

Levi looks up, he narrows his eyes, “What are you doing here, Yeager?” 

The man in front of Levi shuffles awkwardly, “Out with my family, I came out here for a smoke break.” 

‘Shit,’ Levi thinks to himself. If he’s here then Eren must be--

“But what the hell are you doing?”

Levi looks at him again, “What do you mean?”

“I saw everything that happened.” 

Oh.   
Levi doesn't say anything, he lowers his head and keeps his mouth shut. He can feel himself shaking. Out of all the people who could’ve seen this. Zeke Yeager-- out of all people… he doesn’t know what to do in this situation. Levi had been caught hitting and groping his ex.   
Levi glances back at you, you’re currently crouching on the ground having a mental breakdown. He frowns, you’re not helping his case here. 

“Are you going to explain what the fuck you did?” the other man asks. “Or well, why you did it.”

Levi scowls, “I don’t have to tell you anything, it doesn’t concern you.” he keeps his distance. He knows the two of you have met before, and you’ve probably given him some context about your relationship with Levi. He probably knows by now.

“I was the one who got them to block you.” 

This perks Levi’s interest. “Huh?”

“And I was right in doing so,” he says to the dark-haired male. “You’re disgusting.” 

“Okay? You can’t do anything about this, this situation doesn’t concern you.” Levi repeats what he said before.

“I could report you to the police.” 

Levi’s heart nearly stops, if his boss found out about this--

“You won’t--”

“Just-- get away from them.” 

Levi looks down at you. You’re crying is slowing, the tears drip down onto the sidewalk as you   
stare at the concrete. 

“But--” before Levi can make an excuse he sees another person standing by the doorway. He swallows and begins to walk away and towards them. 

“Mr. Levi.” Eren greets him. The boy looks confused, he has no idea what’s going on… “What happened?” 

“Grownup stuff,” Levi tells the boy. “Tell your brother to go, I need to have a private conversation with _________.” 

“You made her cry though.” 

Levi shakes his head, “I didn’t, I just--”

Eren interrupts him, “Yes you did! Mikasa told me you did, she said--”

“Tch, what a brat,” Levi mutters under his breath. Mikasa was always snooping in his business and now Eren was following along.

“Eren,” Zeke calls out to him.

“Yea?” 

Eren is about to go up to him before his brother cuts him off. “Go back to your mom and tell her I have to leave.” 

“Will you be back later?”

“Probably not, just tell her it’s important and bring Mr. Levi back inside too, I’m sure he was with someone.”

Levi grits his teeth and glances back at you. He can see Zeke trying to comfort you, but it doesn’t seem to be working.   
Levi is praying that you don’t go to the police, it could ruin everything. Now you definitely won’t come back to him. Shit.

“_________,” you can hear someone call out to you.  
They reach for your hand, hesitantly you let them grab it while shaking as you do so.

“I’m going to take you home, Levi was gonna drive you back right?”

“I—“your voice catches when you hear your ex’s name. You don’t like him. You never want to see him again.   
Tears are still running down your cheeks after what he did, your cheeks are colder now, and your face feels disgustingly wet.

“_________, I won’t mention him. Just tell me where you live, I can drive you home.”

“But I don’t want that—“

The man cuts you off, “No. I don’t want you to go home alone.” He says firmly, you feel the grip on your hand tighten a bit. “Do you have anyone to call?”

Your mind comes to a blank. All your friends would ask you why you looked like this, they’d ask you about him, about Levi. You didn’t want that.

“Take your time…” the man next to you mumbles. “I’m not going anywhere.”

You swallow and nod, keeping your eyes on the ground. “I don’t think so…” you speak in a quiet voice. “But who—“ you look up to see who’s speaking to you.   
Oh. Your mouth is slightly agape. “You saw me like this?” Your chest tightens. 

Zeke nods.

You look back at the ground, unsure of what to say.

“I can call someone else to—“

“No, it’s fine. I just didn’t expect you out of all people to see me like this.” You tilt your head to the side. Your eyeliner is most likely smudged, along with your mascara, not a pretty sight to see.  
“So you saw what happened?”

“Yes.”

You feel yourself crying again, tears rolling down your cheeks gently. “Was it bad?”

“What he did was, and you deserve so much better.” 

You’re still holding his hand, the grip tightens a bit. “What should I do?” You ask.

“We can discuss that later… I want to get you home first.” He begins to stand up, helping you get up as well. 

Your legs are shaky and you almost fall, your whole body is trembling. You feel as if you’re going to collapse any moment.

“Take your time.” He murmurs, he holds your hand the entire time, gripping it firmly to make sure you stay upright.

Once you're standing up straight on both feet you glance around, your eyes darting from place to place, it’s gotten darker.

“Come on, my car is this way,” Zeke tells you.

You begin to walk along the sidewalk, both of you saying nothing, it’s for the best after all. Hand in hand as you pass through the street, the cold not bothering you. 

(Time skip for like the car ride, they’re at the reader’s apartment)

You hesitantly unlock the door, gripping the key firmly and twisting it. All you can think about is Levi, Levi, Levi, Levi. Your head hurts, not just because of him but also the alcohol from before. 

“Do you need me to do anything else?” A voice asks behind you. 

You shake your head and respond in a quiet voice, “No, I’m fine.”

“He’s an asshole, he didn’t deserve you in the first place.”

You look up at the man speaking, “how would you know? You don’t know much about our relationship…”

“With the way Levi treats you… it seems like it.” Zeke mutters.

You shrug, “I don’t know what led to that moment… I shouldn’t have trusted him with taking me home, but he insisted.”

“Has he done that before?”

“Taking me home?”

“No, the other thing.”

Assaulting you is something that you can tell he wants to say. “Not that I remember.” It hadn’t crossed your mind that Levi might’ve done this before, you might’ve not remembered it but who knows. Either way, it wasn’t like him to just do that, it was fucked up and even he probably knew that. 

You walk inside and shuffle your shoes off. “Would you like any tea?” You ask him as he steps inside. 

“Erm… sure if you’re able to, I don’t want you—“

“I’m fine.” you wave off.

He stays quiet and says nothing, just watching as you turn the lights on. He stares as you head to your tiny kitchen, and you gesture for him to come over. 

The apartment is a good size considering you’re still in college. You must’ve saved up a lot of money to get it. It had a kitchen and a small living area with a bedroom to sleep in upstairs, you liked it. 

You pour the hot water into a cup and place it on the table and continue onto the next one. Zeke just stares at the filled cup as you do so, without saying a word, unsure of what to do or say in this type of situation.

Both cups sit on the table, neither of you touching them. You must’ve been nervous due to how fast your heart was beating. 

“What were you doing there?” Zeke asks.

“I was out drinking with friends.” you scratch your head, “Hange’s only mistake was inviting Levi without me knowing. They must’ve known I wouldn’t have come if he was there.”

He raises an eyebrow, “You’re friends with Eren’s teacher?”

“Huh? They are??”

“Both of them teach at his school.”

“I knew they were both teachers but not at his school.”

“You think Levi would’ve told you.”

You shake your head, “He doesn’t tell me anything when it comes to his job.”

The man beside you frowns as if confused by something. “We don’t have to talk about him if you don’t want to.”

“It’s fine.” You feel your cheeks flush, warmth spreading to them.   
“Were you also out drinking or--”

He shakes his head, “No, I was at a family dinner with my father and his family.”

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to take you from the--”

He cuts you off before you can finish your sentence, “It’s fine. It was getting boring anyway, and the music was getting annoying.” 

You feel your hands getting clammy, you suddenly feel hot and uncomfortable sitting here like this. It might be a late reaction to the assault that occurred, but you couldn’t be sure. You grip your thighs under the table, the only way to calm yourself down. 

Zeke looks at you, noticing your discomfort. “Something off?” he questions.

You fidget under the table, your body itching uncomfortably. “Not sure…” you reply, sounding a bit unsure. You can’t help but squeeze your thighs harder, gripping them. The discomfort was getting to you…

“I should go…” he says getting up from his seat.

“No! Please stay for a bit more.” You beg, pleading with him to stay here. You needed someone. You had no idea what had come over you, your heart racing in your chest.

Hesitantly the man sits back down, you feel like you’ve done something wrong. “I’m sorry.” You say, sitting upright. 

“It’s fine.” he waves it off. “I thought you wanted me to leave.” 

You give a questioning look, “What do you mean?”

“Based on your response you sounded uncomfortable.”

Oh. You sat there, looking down at your lap, your hands still fidgeting with your dress. You don’t know what compelled you to make him stay, you weren't sure if you regretted it or not.

“I’m not.” You assure him.

He nods and takes a sip of his tea, glancing over at you midway through. Your eyes meet, you look down and feel your cheeks warm up. It reminds you of a feeling you had long forgotten, you’re not sure how to react to it… you like the feeling, you like it a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know if I’m rushing things with this fic or if the pacing is off so please tell me if it is.
> 
> Also— thank you for the kind comments on the last chapter, I would’ve replied to them if I could so I’m just gonna say thank you here. :)


End file.
